I just finished Antony Beevor’s ‘Stalingrad’ and loved the book, especially the amount of time that went in to the preceding political events and their implications leading to the battle of Stalingrad. I love WWII history and would like to read more on the War in the Pacific. Any recommendations for a book covering the events leading to, and the actual war itself? Thank you!
Here are a few from my user profile:
Parshall and Tully, Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway: The first history of Midway that draws heavily upon Japanese primary sources and dives into Japanese doctrine and tactics. Does an especially good job of telling the story from the Japanese perspective while rebutting or refuting many of the tropes about the battle and the "failings" that armchair admirals like to point out.
David C. Evans and Mark Peattie, Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941: Although this is technically a pre-war book, since it covers the navy only up to Pearl Harbor, it's great reading to understand the Japanese strategic situation and how it influenced the building of their navy.
Mark Peattie, Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941: This was split off from Kaigun when Evans and Peattie realized they couldn't give it its proper treatment without making the previous book unreadably long; Peattie finished the work after Evans passed away. Like Kaigun, Sunburst is focused on the prewar Navy but is equally foundational.
These aren't on my profile for no particular reason other than I haven't updated it in a bit, but Ian Toll's books Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 and The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 are both quite good and very readable.